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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has added a link to a translation service developed by Microsoft Inc., entitled Bing Translator, as a convenience to visitors to the DEC website who speak languages other than English.

Status of CWD

No new Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) cases have been identified in New York since 2005.

CWD Timeline in New York

Below are details on the initiation of DEC's CWD surveillance program, information on the first case of CWD in New York and actions taken by DEC to minimize its spread.

2002

First detection of CWD in North America. New York initiated a statewide CWD surveillance program in response to the first detection of the disease in eastern states of North America (Wisconsin).

2003

DEC initiated Part 189: Chronic Wasting Disease regulations to reduce the risk of bringing the disease into New York and to minimize its spread if it was detected in our state.

2005

First case of CWD in New York: In early April, the first case of CWD was confirmed in five white-tailed deer from two captive breeding facilities in Oneida County.

After detection, a containment area was imposed around the infected area in Madison and Oneida counties (Wildlife Management Unit 6P), with a mandatory deer check for harvested deer. Other activities were prohibited including, movement of intact carcasses outside the containment area, possession and use of deer or elk urine taken from the containment area, deer rehabilitation, possession of a deer killed by a motor vehicle, and requirements for taxidermist record-keeping and contact barriers with live cervids.

In addition to amending the CWD regulation (Part 189) for the containment area, the regulation also prohibited importation of whole hunter-harvested carcasses from states where CWD had been detected and provide DEC with options to better address threats posed by CWD to New York's wild white-tailed deer.

An intensive monitoring program was established by DEC to sample deer in the infected area. Monitoring efforts for the month of April resulted in testing 290 deer samples from Oneida County, 2 from Madison County and 25 from Hamilton County.

In late April, two wild white-tailed deer were confirmed to have CWD within the infected area.

2009

Mandatory testing of deer from the Oneida/Madison county containment area ended, with routine testing to continue statewide.

2010

More than 31,000 wild white-tailed deer were tested statewide from 2002 through 2010.

In July, the Oneida/Madison containment area was lifted as no new cases of CWD were detected, but additional sample collection continued for the area.

2011

Increased effort by DEC field staff to collect sick deer and deer behaving abnormally from public reports. Sick and abnormal deer are the highest suspects for CWD.

More than 1,800 hunter-harvested deer tested negative for CWD during statewide surveillance.

2012

Risk-based surveillance survey initiated to determine possible routes of CWD entry into New York and exposure to wild deer.

First case of CWD in Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania reported their first CWD-positive deer in a captive farm in Adams County. Three wild deer were also reported CWD-positive from Blair and Bedford counties. Emergency New York regulations prohibited whole carcasses taken in Pennsylvania from being brought into New York.

More than 1,500 hunter-harvested deer tested negative for CWD during statewide surveillance.

2013

Implemented a statewide weighted surveillance system to increase the number of older age-class deer sampled, and increase sampling in counties that have higher deer densities with potential risk-factors (i.e. counties bordering Pennsylvania).

Developed pilot program to partner with taxidermists to collect samples from older age bucks.

Educational campaign to stakeholders and the public on the current CWD science, including the presence of prions in urine, the persistence of prions in soil leading to long-term environmental contamination, and measures they can take to keep CWD out of New York.

More than 2,500 hunter-harvested deer tested negative for CWD during statewide surveillance.

2014

First case of CWD discovered in Ohio: on October 23, 2014, Ohio reported its first case of CWD was diagnosed in a deer at captive facility in Holmes county. Emergency New York regulations prohibited whole carcasses taken in Ohio from being brought into New York.